Anybody else catch the similarities to the situation leading up to Drachen Fire (B&M couldn't do it due to other obligations so Arrow stepped in)?

I have no complaints about that. Me and my brother were never able to ride DF due to height restrictions at the time, but we are definitely DF fanboys. No matter how rough it was, I know I would have loved it.

I'm kind of more excited about getting a Maurer Sohne Coaster than a B&M. B&M is great, but IOA already has 3 B&M coasters, and there are plenty of B&M coasters at BGA and Kraken at SeaWorld. I'm glad to see a unique coaster come to Florida.

^Yeah I agree. Florida needs something some new and unique. Sure Hulk has a launch at the start and Dueling Dragons is the first dueling inverted coaster, but I feel Florida would greatly benefit from something different or even better, a world's first.

If you find out more secret songs, reply to this thread and they will be added to the list! To access the secret song list on the ride, press and hold down the Rockit logo for 5 seconds on the rider panel to bring up a keypad. Enter a 3 digit number to hear hidden tracks.

Universal Orlando Resort Announces Brand-New Roller Coaster
That Features Total Immersion Entertainment and Puts Guests In The Director’s Seat

ORLANDO, FL (March 19, 2008) – Adrenaline pumping and music thumping, you find yourself heading straight toward the sky. Suddenly, you are doing 65 mph, 17 stories over Universal Studios. Gasping with excitement, you rock out to a song you picked before strapping in. And, it’s all on video. Once the adventure is over, you edit the video to send to your friends.

This is true high-tech, customizable, multi-sensory entertainment. Scheduled to open in spring 2009, Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit will stake its claim as the most technologically advanced roller coaster in the world. The Universal Creative team is combining audio and special effects engineering, sophisticated on- and off-board video and one-of-a-kind guest personalization to create a roller coaster experience unlike any other.

“This is the perfect intersection of the digital age and theme park entertainment,” said Mark Woodbury, President of Creative for Universal Parks & Resorts. “Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit blends roller coaster intensity and guest interaction in a way where no two experiences will be the same.”

Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit touts six near-miss moments and first-ever thrills including a record-breaking loop. Ride vehicles feature the brightest and most innovative color changing LEDs in the world. High-energy visual displays fill the queue line. With up to four ride vehicles on the tracks at any given time, and with concert lighting and special effects mixed in, Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit will be a true high-intensity, multi-sensory experience that is unmatched.

Guests can customize their ride experience by choosing what song will play while they’re on the roller coaster. LED boards in the queue lines will display song options from five genres (classic rock, rap, country, pop and disco). Once on-board, guests can choose their song or let the coaster’s digital sound system choose for them. When the ride is over, guests will be able to customize footage from their experience and compile it into a take-home music video.

Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit will be located near the Jimmy Neutron attraction traveling the southern perimeter of the Universal Studios theme park, over to the CityWalk lagoon and back.

Universal Studios is about to build a new signature ride: a high-tech roller coaster full of lights, music, loops, twists and turns — and a quick trip over the heads of people walking through the nearby CityWalk entertainment district.

The Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit is planned to be big, bright and brash enough to become the new visual symbol for the theme park when the coaster opens in about a year. Universal Orlando officials said Tuesday that it also will feature enough digital technology to appeal directly to what they refer to as the "YouTube culture."

Universal Orlando officials said the coaster will rise 167feet into the air and feature numerous loops and corkscrew turns. Rockit — the first big, outdoor thrill ride for Universal Studios — is set to open in spring 2009.

More Orlando Sentinel blogs
It will provide another link in Universal Orlando's recent chain of big new attractions. An overhauled version of an old ride, renamed Disaster!, opened in January. The Simpsons Ride, a 3-D fantasy-simulation ride replacing the old Back to the Future, is set to open in a few weeks. And several still-undisclosed attractions are to open together in late 2009 as the "Wizarding World of Harry Potter" in Universal Studios' sister park, Islands of Adventure.

The flurry of activity follows a dormant period of nearly three years during which Universal offered no big new rides.

Although it will be the tallest coaster in Central Florida and one of the fastest in the state, the Rockit will be nowhere near the tallest or fastest in the amusement-park business. But like the Incredible Hulk in Islands of Adventure and several other Florida coasters, it aims to use innovation and novelty to make up for any lack of record-setting height or speed.

"We like to go for the best," said Mark Woodbury, president of Universal Parks & Resorts' creative division — though Universal would not comment on the project's cost.

Rockit will offer high-energy video displays in the waiting line; high-intensity, color-changing LED lighting and digital audio and video effects during the ride; and various engineering innovations.

'A whole new level'
And unlike any of the other big roller coasters in Central Florida, Rockit will loom over its park's entrance and beyond. Universal plans to squeeze its track between the Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast ride and the Sharp Aquos Theatre, which houses the Blue Man Group show. From there the track would run along the boundary between Universal Studios and Universal's sound stages, then rise over the fence to twist over the sidewalks of CityWalk, outside the theme park — a brightly lit, scream-filled advertisement for the park.

"We like to look at this as taking the thrill ride to a whole new level, both physically and figuratively," Woodbury said. "It's iconographic in its position. It's going to do some things no ride has done before. And it combines entry into the digital age with the ability to customize and personalize the ride for each rider."

That particular digital-age feature will allow riders to select their own music and create a music video of the ride. Afterward, a rider could download the video and use it on personal Web pages or video-sharing sites.

But the ride — which Universal officials had referred to for months by the code name "Project Rumble" — still draws principally on the basic thrills of a roller coaster: speed, height, loops, corkscrews, twists, turns and drops. Universal officials said Rockit would have several signature moves and a record-breaking loop, though they would not elaborate. The artist's rendering that they released shows the track climbing a 167-foot-tall peak, then corkscrewing downward, twisting eight times.

'It's a natural for us'
The ride's Internet-based theme digresses a bit from Universal Studios' original theme, which was all about "riding" the movies. But Universal officials insisted that the coaster will justify the inclusion of the word "Hollywood" in its name — a term also adopted earlier this year by Walt Disney World when it renamed its rival movie-studio theme park.

"We've always fancied ourselves as embedded into the Hollywood culture with Universal. It's part of our essence. It's a natural for us," Woodbury said. "The name is very specific to the attributes of the ride. It combines creating your own movie, to customize it; that's the 'rip' part. You can download it to your personal site. And you ride it, of course. You have the 'Rockit' part, which combines the thrill and the music."

OMG! I am so glad I am planning on going to Orlando next year! It sounds so AWSOME! All of Universals coasters are totatally AWSOME. I know I will love Rockit since I love the Hulk, the Mummy & Dueling Dragons. Universal sure has some top notch coasters!!!

Looking at the rendering of the cars... is anyone else thinking "X-coaster"?

I wonder if all this new, never-before-seen technology will create a lot of downtime? It might be a good idea to hold off until it's been open a few months, which would also give you a chance to wait until the Harry Potter section opens at IOA next door.

This sounds awesome, even if the name is really terrible. I can't wait to see some actual renderings and real stats, as opposed to marketing terms and fluff. But yeah, this really looks like it's going to kick A$$ (minus the name).

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